Neighbour HATES my dog!

[Canecorsomummy]

Hi everyone!

I’ve lived in my house for over 9 years now, have owned a poodle cross for 8 of those years. April last year I got a Cane Corso puppy, spoke to this certain neighbour informing her, gave her my number and told her if there was any problems with barking etc, especially if I’m not home, then go please let me know so I can resolve it but she has done nothing but cause me problems ever since.

Last year I was taking rubbish to the bins and the CC followed me out and was being fussed over by my neighbour on the other side of my house. 24 hours later the other neighbour put a computer typed letter through my letterbox stating the car park is not a place to walk a dog, it is illegal for her not to be on a lead and if she sees it happening again she is going to report me for having a out of control dog and her being a dangerous breed!! I sent her a text message explaining the law very basically for her and explaining under no circumstances will she be putting notes through my letterbox over something which could be dealt with by an adult conversation.

Well, since April this year she has made numerous reports to RSPCA claiming I’m neglecting her, abusing her and now a report to Social Services claiming I’m not only neglecting my CC, but she is a dangerous breed and I have a young child in my home!

I have absolutely had enough now!! My back door is normally open 24 hours as I have an enclosed garden but I’m petrified to allow the dog to be able to go in and out at her free will because of this neighbour, petrified I’m going to be approached by rspca/police when I’m out walking her ….

I just don’t know what to do now.

When you first said you lived in a terraced house with a secure garden I (wrongly!) assumed you would have 6ft brick walls round your yard, not just wooden fences!

In 6 months time your dog will likely be able to get through a timber fence panel in under 5 minutes.

Not a problem if you are outside to intervene but you said you leave your back door open 24/7.

I’m sure your neighbour would be a lot less scared if you committed to reinforcing your perimeter with stronger materials or started wee training so you have the back door open only when you are outside with the dog or you’re standing on the doorstep while the dog does a 30 second wee.

We bought a dinky old fashioned metal ‘school’ bell and hung it from the inside back door handle with a curtain tie back cord. Only took about 3 days for my lurcher to learn how to ring the bell when she wants to go out to toilet (my other dog is a bit dim so he continues to whiffle and whimper at me until I open the door for him)

She also refused to cut down her overgrown tree at the back of the garden which was hanging into her other neighbours garden, who were in fear of it falling and hurting their young children. So the neighbour cut down the section over their garden and put the cuttings in the back of her garden.

She called the police and tried to press charges for trespassing and criminal damage!!

for years the same neighbour of hers and been asking, even seeker legal advice to the fact she has ivy growing on the connecting wall which has now spread and is growing IN the garden fence panels but again, she refuses and there is no legal law stating she HAS to deal with it as she owns her property.

She is not a reasonable neighbour. It’s her way or no way and that is around everything

Dogs are allowed off lead as long as they are under effective control - ie trained to come on command and within your eyesight. Some areas have stricter rules but that’s the standard when there are no signs. Also for people saying large dogs are scarier than small dogs have you seen the damage a Jack Russel can do - some small dogs have razor sharp teeth, are molly coddled and nervous while some large dogs have very blunt teeth. It’s about temperament and also how well they’re trained, some people get handbag dogs, spoil them and treat them like kids and they can become dangerous as a result. I like all dogs but the saying ‘you don’t get bad dogs only bad owners’ is completely true.

I would leave my toddler play with my mum’s large dog (rottweiler/springer mix) as she literally can hang from it’s ears and get no reaction (just licks and a sad expression so we do remove her as it’s mean to the dog). In the same light I don’t let her near my aunt’s tiny white fluffball because it’s nervous, spoilt and growls and snaps when it’s tired (she feeds it only human food, it sleeps in her bed and I’ve seen it properly attack my mums dog over food). You need to know a dog’s temperament. My friend when visiting doesn’t bring her Cockapoo as it gets jealous and nervous of kids (it’s a breed that can get very attached to one person), she just brings her other dog which loves children. Good dog owners know their animals.

But she must see your dog unaccompanied in your backyard all the day, especially if he bedroom is at the back of the house.

@ChaChaChooey these are wooden fences, concreted into the ground, with concrete reinforcement poles.

Both my dogs are fully house trained, I don’t leave it open because they’re not. I leave it open for them because I have a safe and secure garden. Same as I allow my child out there without me standing by the back door watching constantly

Timber fence panels aren’t secure enough for dog breed that weighs 45kg.

@ChaChaChooey my dogs are not in the garden all day. When at home the dogs have free access to my garden yes, I even leave the back door open when I go out unless it’s longer then a couple of hours, wheather I have the dogs with me or they’re at home.

She also works full time so how would she know the dog is out there neglected all day? The dog could be sat out there while I’m sat in the living room watching TV, she can’t see inside my house

Can't you hear how unreasonable that sounds? Why should you have to accompany your own dog in your own secure garden?

If this neighbour has nothing better to do than make unfounded, malicious reports about next door's dog and spends time spying on it and anyone else minding their own business in their own back garden, then I suggest she either gets a life or some sort of therapy.

OP you sadly have come to the wrong place for any type of support regarding your cc. Some of these comments are ludicrous! People saying they would be sacred to live next door to your dog but are dog lovers, doesn’t make any sense! You clearly are a responsible loving owner who has taken this dog in, nurtured and loved her. Just because she doesn’t meet the MN pre-approved dog breed(cockerpoo central) which btw are beautiful, but owning one does not mean you have any idea of how to raise a dog. The majority of them would not have a scooby of what to do if their beloved dog attacked a child or another dog, which btw I have had a cockerpoo aggressively approach my elderly Staffordshire bull terrier, barking and jumping on his back and the owner had no idea what to do, thankfully my dog didn’t retaliate. You do not need MN to tell you what you’re doing wrong, it sounds to me like you’re doing all the right things and your neighbour is batshit! Ignore and continue to live your life as you would. I wish you all the luck xx

Exactly. Neighbour can reinforce her bloody fence if she’s that afraid of a dog who’s done absolutely nothing wrong. This place 🙄

@ChaChaChooey aa long as these concrete reinforced, timber fencing is being unkept and kept to a safe standard there is zero issue.

Do you think this woman is going to give me the go ahead to build a 6 ft brick wall, down one side of her garden, potentially blocking a percentage of sunlight when she fought against the neighbour building a single level, one room, conversion attached to their back house wall?

If she would let me, I’d do it immediately to get her to leave me alone!

If the tree is diseased, then she can be forced to take it down. The neighbours were actually in the wrong for chucking the bits they cut off back over, as bonkers as it sounds.

I still think owning a dog I had no hope of overpowering is another level of bonkers though. Irrespective of how well trained a dog is, that can change. Illness, for a start, can cause dogs to turn and behave out of character. No amount of training will prevent that. I can't understand anybody that could be comfortable sharing their home with a potential ticking time bomb, let alone subjecting an innocent child, who has no choice in the matter, to it.

@Laladance ita crazy because my post had nothing to do with anyone’s opinion on my choice of breed for a dog, it was for advice as to now deal with the neighbour making malicious reports, now escalating these reports to social services.

It seems many people on here believe that just by living and breathing, my dog and I are the problem and that there is nothing damaging around wasting the RSPCA, the police and now social services time, causing emotional and mental distress to my child due to these visits they legal have to make, just because the neighbour feels my dog is a dangerous breed or an actual banned breed. Neither of which she is

@ChaChaChooey the tree is alive and kicking. You are also legally allowed to cut plants/trees whose roots are in your neighbours garden if they are dangerously overgrown into your property or you feel it is a risk of harm/injury. As long as you put those cuttings onto the property which the roots are from there’s nothing illegal about it. They never climbed over her garden fence, they had paperwork trail of them requesting her to maintain it, as long with letters from the council confining they could not enforce her to do it as it is private property

Common fallacy that OP - if you trim back an overhanging tree, you are obliged to offer the cuttings back (from a time where people would be using those as kindling/fuel)...

But simply dumping them over the fence is not ok, thats dumping garden waste. If the tree's owner does not want the cuttings, you are obliged to dispose of them yourself.

@ChaChaChooey of course my son has a choice, this is his home! There was plenty of open conversations between myself and him, they also continues to be, surrounding both dogs that live in our home. He knows if there was ever a time he was fearful, felt unsafe with either dogs, they would be rehomed.

Exactky the same as if there was another person spending extended periods of time/living in my home. If my child ever felt unsafe, I would not need some elaborate reasoning for it, I would do what has to be done for him to feel safe

If you have a family support worker that suggests there is a vulnerability within your family. If your family is already in a situation where you need a support worker, then adding in a large, strong, protection breed is something which could increase the risk of something going wrong with potentially tragic consequences. Rather than assuming harassment and being defensive, it could be worth reflecting on what has led to your neighbour being sufficiently concerned for your child's safety that they've felt the need to raise their concerns with social work.

On an other thread the OP states she
walks the dog off lead.

@Scirocco i have a family support worker, at my own request, for issues with my sons education setting. There is no welfare issues, issues with my parenting and his home surroundings, he is not a ‘looked after child,’

You don’t have to be in some sort of vulnerability to request a support worker to help you resolve certain issues

This has nothing to do with her thinking your child is at risk, she is finding any which way she can to ensure you have to get rid of your dog, your child is sadly collateral damage. She is a POS! All because she doesn’t want to live next door to the breed. I’m so sorry that you’re going through this xx

I think you're meaning to quote me. You don't seem to say how old your son is but I'm guessing he's of an age where he's not mature enough to realise that his dog could kill him in the blink of an eye. To him, the dog is his pet and he just wouldn't understand it's an animal that has been bred to have certain traits. Plenty of apparently grown adults also seem to struggle with this.

You are all so patronising. Pretending to be concerned so you can get some extra swipes in. Nasty.

@Runn8ngOnEmpty yes I will walk my dog off leash, which I am legally allowed to do. I will also put her back on leash if I see children/elderly, sports, other dogs on leash, in roads ….

As I have said numerous times, since last May I have never left my front door without both my dogs leashed as I am now aware she has a fear of my dog!

You realise that 'walked off lead' can (and generally does) mean 'we walk to the field/park/suitable place for off lead exercise, and then take the lead off'.

It does not mean the OP heads out of her front door with the dogs off the lead.

As long as her dog has a reliable recall (and she has said nothing to suggest otherwise, at all) what is the issue?

@CellophaneFlower my son is 10 years old. In February he was bitten by a pocket bully who was on leash. Yes he understood there was factors to take into consideration surrounding the bite but he also knew he had a responsibility to others to report that dog.

He is under no illusion of the real world thank you very much